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Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are considered "mission critical" objectives within higher education strategic planning processes and by accrediting bodies, particularly at private liberal arts-based institutions. A research gap currently exists with respect to how organized faith, religion, and interfaith dialogue play a pedagogical role in business, particularly when preparing undergraduate students for technical business careers in accounting, finance, and decision sciences. Viewed as the "forgotten DEI" initiative, interfaith dialogue is critical to success at multinational corporations and at the center of employee resource group (ERG) creation. The infusion of interfaith classroom examples, articles, and pedagogy can serve a dual purpose, both preparing undergraduates for careers in technical business disciplines and exposing them to cross-cultural dialogue necessary within multinational companies. This paper describes how religion and interfaith dialogue can be incorporated within the pedagogical design of technical business disciplines to help support DEI initiatives and students preparing for careers in a global world.
Keywords: interfaith dialogue, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), financial education, accounting education, employee resource groups (ERG)
INTRODUCTION
Technical business disciplines - accounting, finance, and decision sciences - are often perceived to be narrow in scope and the least likely to infuse concepts such as globalization, sustainability, or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within undergraduate course design. While mastering technical skills are important to undergraduate business students to secure meaningful careers, accreditation bodies, and higher education strategic planning processes advocate for the development of "mission critical" objectives within the disciplines to shape a more well-rounded graduate ready for the global workforce. Preparing business students for global careers also requires faculty to acknowledge how spirituality, religion, and interfaith dialogue can be taught in parallel with technical material in support of strategic planning objectives and without neglecting professional skill development. Viewed as the "forgotten DEI initiative" (Cole et al., 2021), religion and interfaith dialogue represents a gap in the college-level experience, with less than 20% of students learning about how different belief systems influence the business world.
Universities should approach diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and sustainability work as "mission critical" and its basic tenets should be at the core of institutional problem-solving and day-to-day operations (Clayton, 2021); however, implementation of such initiatives may be perceived as incidental, rather than intentional, and run...